Smokehouse



May 20, 1924. 1,494,903

H. 0 HAGUE SMOKEHOUSE Filed July 13 1922 I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 fizz/972757? Harald U. fiz zgzze.

v jMw/m May 20, 1924. 1,494,903 I H. O. HAGUE smoxsnousn Filed July 13 1922 s Sheets-Sheet 2 H. O. HAGUE SMOKEHOUSE Filed July 13 1922 May 20-, 1924.

- 3 Sheets-Sheet v5 Patented May 20, 1924.

' UNITED STATES I 1,494,903 PATENT' oFFicE.

HAROLD O. HAGUE, OE CHICAGQ ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR IfACKERS MACHINERY EQUIPMENT CO., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ACORPORATION-OF ILLINOIS.

SMOKEHOUSE.

. Application filed July 13, 1922. Serial No. 574,729.

To all whom it may concern: v Be it known that I, IIAROLD O. HAGUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Smokehouses, .of which the following is a full, clean-concise, and exact description, reference being had to I the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification. 7

My invention relates to smoke houses, and more particularly ma smoke house which is p'ro ij'ided with suitable carriers for the meat tolbe smoked, so mounted that the carriers can be filled one at a time and then moved out of position adjacent-the entrance tothe smoke house to gradually fill the smoke house, and in which the meat can be removed fromthe carriers in a similar manner.

It is a purpose of the invention to provide asmoke house having carriers mounted therein which are arranged'in the form of a vertically extending endless conveyor passing by an opening through which access can" be had to the carriers to thesame, said carriers being also adapted to be emptied at said opening after the articles have been smoked, said carriers being adapted to receive smoke house sticks thereon for smoking the sansages, and being also adapted to receive and hold bacon or ham holdingcages within the same. H

It is still a further purpose of the invention to provide a device of the above mentioned character having a rail leading up to the same along which the ham or bacon carryingcages may be rolled, said carriers with in the smoke housebeing also provided with members aligning with said track adapted to receive the rollers on saidcages so that said cages may be readily moved into position within the carriers in the smoke house, said members being so mounted as to automatically move to such a position as tohold the ham or bacon cages in position within the carriers after, the same have reached the proper position therein.

"It is another important purpose of themvention to provide a smoke house having a smoke chamber therein between the stack or fiueand the,sm'okingchamber whereby the proper-degree of heat is more readily obtainedin the smoking chamber and'the drying out of the meat in smoking is prevented.

here no smoke chamber is'provided adjacent the top of thesmoke house it has been found that the smoke travels from the grate directly toward the flue and the density of the smoke is not uniform in the smoke chamber, wlnle where the separate smoke cham-,;

her is provided above the chamber in which the meat is smokeda substantially uniform density of smoke 'in the smoking chamber results and also the smoke does not become] as dry as where no smoke chamber is provided, thus the use of the smoke chamber aids in retaining moisture in the meat that is .be-.

ing smoked Said smoke chamber prefera bly is provided with a plurality of openings in the bottom thereof connectingwith the meat smoking chamber and with an opening in alignment with the stack inthe top there of, said stack opening being out of. align mentwith the openings in the bottom of the chamber. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear-as the description of the skilled in this art andas would fall within the scope of the claims.

In the drawings: r i p a Fig. 1 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in front elevation of my improved smoke house, a portion thereof being broken away; a i Fig.2 is a vertical sectional view taken'at right angles "to Fig. 1, a portionthereofv being shown in elevation;

Fig.3 is a section taken on the line- 3.3 of Fig. 2; r

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of one of the carriers showing a ham and bacon cage mounted within the same; and a Fig. 6 is a view of one of the ham and bacon cages looking at the side thereof when in position in the carriers, said view being taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, my improved smoke house comprises the walls 10 and the roof 11 from which extends the chimney or stack:12. The walls 10 are provided with firing doors 13 for placing the material for making the smoke on the grate 14, an ash door 15 being also provided as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The grate may be made of any desired construction, but is preferably of the construction shown in my application, Serial No. 516,227, filed Nov. 18, 1921. The lower portion of the smoke house is provided with a vertical partition 16 dividing the smoke house into the smoke producing chambers 17 and 18. One of the sides 10 of the'smoke house is provided with doors 19 through which the smoke house may be filled and emptied. Substantially in alignment with the lower edges of the doors are the gratings 20 which serve as a floor upon which the operator may step in order to place. meat to be smoked on the carriers. The smoking compartment of the smoke house is provided with a vertically extending partition 21 which divides the same into two passageways 22 and 23. Bracket members 24 are provided mounted in the upper portion of the smoke house, which are provides with'bearings 25 for the stub shafts 26 which carry the sprockets 27 over which the chains 28 of the conveyor members comprising the carriers 29, operate.

The carriers 29 comprise the side frames 30 which are provided with the transversely extending members 31 which are angular in cross section, as shown in Fig. 1, and which are adapted to receive the smoke house sticks 32 extending from one side frame 30 to the opposite side frame 30. The pairs of frames 30 are connected by transverse rods 33, the outer end portions of which extend through said" chains 28 soas to pivotally mount said carriers on said chains by means of said rods or shafts 33. Mounted on the extreme outer end portions of the shaft 33 are the arms 34 having the laterally extending lugs 35 thereon. The chains 23 pass over the sprockets 36, which are adjustably mounted between the channels 37 due to the fact that the shaft 38, upon which the sprockets 36 are mounted, extends across from one of the channel members 39 to the opposite channel member 39, being mounted in suitable bearings in said channel members, said channel members 39 being slidably mounted relative to the channels 37 and being adjustable by means of the adjusting screws 40 extending through the lugs 41 on the members 37, which adjusting screws are mounted on the bearing members 42 for the shaft 38. Guide members. 44 and 45 having the outwardly turned end portions 46 and 47 are provided for guiding the chains and the carriers properly at the sprockets 36. The guides 44 and 45 provide a guideway therebetween in which the lugs 35 are adapted to travel drum 56 over which, the band 57 of a band brake operated by the, lever 58 extends. The brake mechanism is provided for holding the conveyor in any desired position, asit will be evident that if only part of the carriers are filled, the tendency of the conveyor will be to rotate in such a direction as to bring the filledcarriers to the. bot-tom portion of the conveyor. I

The angles 31 are provided for receiving smoke house sticks, as previously described, the smoke house sticks being used for supporting 'the sausages while being smoked. The smoke house is also adapted to be used for smoking hams or bacon, and it is customary to smoke the hams or bacon While supported on what is known as a ham or baconcage, as the use of. these cages makes the filling of the smoke housemuch easier and the transportation of the hams or bacon before being smoked, as well as after smoking, to and from the smoke house much simpler. The ham or bacon cages comprise a plurality of transverse members 59 mounted on the vertically extending rod 60, said rod 60 being secured to a bracket 61 by means of a hook and eye shown at 64, said bracket 61 having bearings therein for the pulley 62 which operates over the rail 63. Secured to the ends of the transverse members 59 are the end members 65, said end members being provided with notches 66 for receiving the supporting members for the hams or bacon.

In order to charge the smoke house with hams or bacon, the ham or bacon-cage is moved along the rail 63 by means of the roller 62 into the smoke house. Each of the carriers 29 is provided with a rail section 67 having an arcuate portion 68, said rail section being mounted on a bracket member having the armsv 69, 70 and 71, said bracket member being pivoted on the shaft 33. The arcuate end portion 68 of the rail 67 passes through an eye 72 at the end of the arm 68 and the straight portion of the rail 67 is mounted in a hook-like portion 73 of the bracket 71. A handle 74 is pivoted at 75 to the arm 70. When the ham or bacon cage is to be moved into the position within the carriers 29, as shown in Fig. 5, the handle 74 is pulled downwardly so as to'bring the rail 67 in alignment with the rail 63.

to properly guide the chains and carriers. The-ham or bacon cage is then pushed onto the rail 6-7, and it will be seen that when the pulley 62 passes to the right of the shaft 33 the weight of the ham or bacontcage will cause the rail section 67 to swing to the dotted line position in Fig. ,6, and-that the rail section 67 will remain in said position until the handle 74 is actuated to pull the same down to the full line position. This is done when the cage is to be'removed from the carrier onto the rail 63.

A smoke chamber is provided in the upper end portion of the smoke ho-useabove the meat smoking chamber and between the same and the stack 12, said chamber comprising a floor portion 76 which is supported on the brackets 7 7 secured to the Walls 10, said brackets being made in the form of an gles secured to the corners of said cham ber, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Said chamber is also provided with end walls 7 8 and side walls 7 9 secured to said angles, and a top or roof portion 80 isalso provided. The end and side. walls 78 and 79 are secured to the bottom 7 6 and the top 80 respectively by the angles 81 and 82. The side and end walls are preferably made of sheet iron and the top andbottom 76 and 80 preferably are made of heat insulating material, known as asbestos lumber.

The bottom 76 is provided. with a plurality of openings 85 spaced about the same and out, of alignment with the stack 12. The top 80 is provided with an opening 86 aligning with the stack 12 and the vstack 12 is provided with the customary damper 87. As will be seen from Fig. 4, in which the direction of travel of smoke is shown by the arrows therein, a strong draft through the stack or chimney 12 from the meat smoking chamber is prevented by pro viding the smoke retaining chamber 88 with in the box-like member described, above. The smoke takes a circuitous route through the openings 85, and the opening 86, thus doing away with the tendency of the smoke to travel in substantially a straight line from the grates 20 to the stack 12 and preventing the drying out of the meat that is to be smoked due to the heat generated and the rapid carrying away of the smoke through the stack. If the damper .82 is actuated to cut down the draft the tendency will still exist for the smoke to travel toward the stack opening, although at a. lesser rate, while in providing the smoke retaining chamber'in the upper-part of the smoke house, the draft is broken up in such a way as to cause a substantially uniform action thereof throughout the area of the smoke house, thus producing a uniform smoking of the meat within the house, and also preventing drying out of some of the meat which would ordinarily be. in the line of draft were the smoke retaining chamber not used.

.1 Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by U. S. Letters Patent is:

.1. Ina smoke house, a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon, meat carrying cages and means for removably mounting said cages in said carriers.

In 'asmoke house, a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon, meat carrying cages and-means for mounting said cages in said carriers, said cagesbeing movable into and out of position within said carriers on said means.

3. In a smoke house, a-conveyor having a plurality of carriers comprising side members thereon, meat carrying cages and means for removably mounting said cages in said carriers between said side members.

4:. In a smoke house, a conveyor having a plurality'of carriers comprising side members adapted to support smoking sticks, meat carrying cages and, means for remo-vably mounting said cages in said carriers between said side members.

'5. In a smoke house, a conveyor having a. plurality of carriers thereon, meat carrying cages, and a runway for said cages, said runway having portions mounted onv said carriers, whereby said cages are adapted to be mounted in said carriers.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with. a meat smoking chamber .and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber, of a run Way, meat carrying cages movable along said runwa and means onsaid carriers adapted to receive said cages to mount the same in said carriers.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and aconveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber, of a runway, 'meat carrying cages movable along said runway and runway portions on said carriers .adapted to. receive said cages to mount the same in said carriers.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in-sa-id chamber, of a runway, meat carrying cages movable along said runway and means on said carriers adapted to receive said cages to mount the same in said carriers, said means holding said cages associated with said carriers.

9. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber,:of arun- 10. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber, of a runway, meat carrying cages movable along said runway and means onsaid carriers adapted to receive said cages'to mount the same in said carriers, said means automatically moving into a position to hold said cages in position in. said carriers.

11. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber having a conveyor therein, of a runway entering said chamber meat carrying members movable along said runway into said chamber, and means. on said conveyor adapted toreceive said members from said runway and hold the same.

12. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber having a conveyor therein, of a runway entering said chamber, meat carrying members movable along said runway into said chamber, and means on said conveyor adapted to receive said members from said runway, said means being movable into a position to hold said members on said conveyor.

13. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber having a conveyor therein, of a runway entering said chamber, meat carrying members movable along said runway into said chamber, and means on said conveyor adapted to receive said members from said runway, said means being movableinto a position to hold said members on said conveyor due to the weight of said members.

14. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber, of a runway, meat carrying cages movable along said runay and means on said carriers adapted to receive said cages to mount the' same in said carriers and being movable into a position to remove said cages from said carriers.

In a device of the. character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamher having a conveyor therein, of a. runway entering said chamber, meat carrying members movable along said runway into said chamber, and means on said conveyor adapted to receive said members from said runway, said means being movable into a position to hold said members on said conveyor due to the weight of said members and having means for returning the same into such position that said members can be moved therefrom onto said runway.

16. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber, of a run way, meat carrying cages movable along saidrunway and runway portions on said carriers adapted to receivesaidjcages to mount the same in said carriers-said runway portions being pivoted so as to swing automaticallvto cage holding position.

17. In a device of the character described, the combination with a meat smoking chamber and a conveyor having a plurality of carriers thereon in said chamber, of a run way, meat carrying cages movablealong said runway and runway portions on said carriers adapted to receive said cages to mount-the s-ame in said carriers, said runway portions having curved portions and be ing pivoted so as to swing automatically to cage holding position when said cages reach said curved portions thereof.

18. A smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamber, a vertical conveyor therein for circulat ing the meat being smoked in said chamber. a smoke stackand a chamber between said meat smoking chamber and saidsmoke stack and immediately above the upper end of said conveyor. l

19.-A smokehouse of the character de scribed, comprising a meat smoking chamber, a vertical conveyor therein for circulating the meat being smoked in said chamber, a smoke stack and a chamber between said meat smoking chamber and'said smoke stack and immediately above the upper end of said conveyor, said chamber having a plurality of openings entering the same from-said meat smoking chamber, and having an opening into said stack.

20. A smokehouse of the character described comprising a meat smoking chamber, a vertical conveyor therein for circulating the meat being smoked in said chamber, a smoke stack and a chamber between said meat smoking chamber and said smoke stack and immediately above the upper end of said conveyor, said chamber having a plurality of openings entering the same "from said meat smoking chamber out ofalignment with said stack opening, andhaving an opening into said stack.

21. A smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamher. a smoke stack and a partition between said smoke stack and said meat smoking chamber, said partition being closed below said smoke stack and having openings out of vertical alignment with said smoke'stack.

22. A smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamher, a smoke stack and a chamber between said smoke stack and said meat smokin chamber, said chamber having a bottom wall having openings therein out of alignment with said stack to establish communication between said chambers. A

23. A smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamber, a smoke stack and a chamber between said smoke stack and said meat smoking chamber, said chamber having a bottom wall having openings therein out of alignment with said stack to establish communication between said chambers and a top wall .having an opening aligning with said stack the bottom wall of said chamber being imperforate below said stack.

24. A Smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamber, a smoke stack and a chamber between said smoke stack and said meat smoking chamber, said chamber having a bottom wall having openings therein to establish communication between said chambers and a top wall having an opening aligning with said stack, said walls comprising heat insulating material.

25. A Smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamber, a smoke stack, and a chamber between said smoke stack and said meat smoking chamber, said chamber having a bottom Wall having openings therein to establish communication between said chambers and a top wall having an opening aligning with said stack but out of alignment with the openings in said bottom wall, said bottom wall being imperforate in alignment with said stack.

26. A smokehouse of the character described, comprising a meat smoking chamber, a smoke stack, and a chamber between said smoke stack and said meat smoking chamber, said chamber having a bottom Wall having openings therein adjacent the corners thereof, to establish communication between said chambers and a top wall having a central opening aligning with said stack but out of alignment with the openings in said bottom wall, said bottom wall being imperforate in alignment with said stack.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 13th day of J une, A. D., 1922.

HAROLD O. HAGUE. 

